-13-
BC sat down at the first officer's station, much to the relief of the other operators. She brings up two displays so that she can monitor the situation a little closer. On the right screen is the battle. Vandread Dita, with Keiichi at the helm, had waded into the conflict and had made a huge dent in the harvester's lines. But a dent was not what they needed right now. It almost seemed as if when they destroyed one enemy unit, two more took its place. They appeared to be making some headway, though. Unfortunately, with the pounding the Nirvana was taking from within the nebula, she may be forced to pull them back and have the vanguard combine with Jura's dread so that they could erect a shield to better protect the ship. The bad part of that plan was that it would remove Vandread Dita, which was now a major part of their firepower without the great ships weapons.
On the left screen, she is monitoring Meia's progress with the unknown craft that was inbound. The white dread had been able to keep up initially, but now it was suddenly pulling away. As it flew past the raging battle and towards their ship, she felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Even if they did have targeting sensors, they would not have been able to get a lock. This was confirmed earlier by Amerone when she reported that the craft did not show up on sensors at all.
As she watches her personal screens, she nearly jumps out of her seat as Meia's image appears on the main viewer, startling her. "Nirvana! It's shot some sort of torpedo, its inbound to you now!"
Sensing the extreme worry in her voice and seeing the panic in her face, BC has only seconds to react. She slams her fist down on the ship's internal com button. "ALL HANDS, BRACE FOR IMPACT!" She then steadies herself against the component ring and waits for all hell to break loose.
XXX
The two goddesses can feel the tension level rise as the announcement is made throughout the ship. Instead of following instructions though, they begin walking through the hanger and towards the shielded opening. As they get closer, they see a red and white, wedge shaped craft enter their field of view.
"There she is!" cries out a hopeful Belldandy.
"And there she goes," chirps Urd as the craft streaks past without stopping. She looks at her younger sister. "I'm going to have a little chat with her when this is all over. She needs to get over it."
Bell sighs, a little dejected. "It's ok Urd, she will come when she is ready."
As they look on, a torpedo shaped craft enters the hanger. It approaches them and slows, coming to a stop and floating a few feet away from them. After a moment, it starts to shift and reconfigure itself. A familiar bulbous head with a black bullet shaped hat appears, the engine seem to drop down underneath, and a seat appears. Behind the head, what appears to be handlebars pop up. The red and white machine looks like some sort of personal speeder like vehicle from one of the Star Wars movies.
"Banpie!" exclaims Belldandy, and rushes up to the robot. Urd follows suit.
An arm uncurls from underneath the head, reaches out, and gives Belldandy a loving squeeze on her arm. It did not matter how many versions of Banpie were built, they always seemed to have a soft spot for the middle Norn. She smiled sweetly at him as a return gesture. Banpie nods, then turns to Urd. With the same arm, it points to the silver haired goddess and motions to her. Urd looks at the red and white robot scooter, puzzled as to why it was motioning to her, and points to herself with a questioning look.
The robot nods and repeats the gesture, this time adding emphasis and indicating that Urd needed to get on. The white haired goddess looks at the robot incredulously. "You want me to get on?!"
Banpie nods.
"And what, fly out there?!" she says.
Banpie nods again.
"With a battle raging on, are you nuts?" replies Urd, putting her hands on her hips for emphasis.
The red and white robot's eyes blink twice. He reaches down and opens a compartment on his underside and produces a small, red and white doll. He holds it out in front of him as if to show the goddesses what he had. The small doll, with its raven colored hair, bears a striking resemblance to the youngest Norn. With his other hand, Banpie reaches up and slowly yanks on a pull string on the doll's back. "Urd, get on Banpie now, I need your help!" it squeaks after he lets go.
Urd harrumphs, and crosses her arms across her chest. "And just exactly why?" she asks.
Banpie pulls the string again. "Because if you don't, I'll tell Father what you and Troubadore were doing to cause Mount Saint Helens to erupt."
Urd stares daggers at the robot and doll. "You wouldn't….." she replies nervously, then glances at Belldandy, trying to give her best cover-up smile. She looks back to Banpie, who flashes his eyes twice, while nodding at her. "Well, if you put it that way." She says in resignation, then steps over and mounts the robot. She looks over the controls and notes in the upper right that it says Banpie Space Speeder 3000. She rolls her eyes then looks again to familiarize herself with the controls.
As she does so, Bell steps over beside her. "Do be careful," she says, concern in her voice.
Urd gives her sister a thumbs up and a smile. "Don't worry about me. You need to worry about the brat after this is all over with. She and I are going to have a little heart to heart."
Bell gives her sister a wane smile, then steps back away from the speeder. A blue sphere forms around it as Urd engages the controls, causing it to rise. She speeds off, through the barrier and in to the beyond. Bell turns and rushes over to the wall and sits down. She chants a short incantation, then passes out.
XXX
Back on the bridge, BC blinks when the expected explosions don't happen, then looks around at the rest of the bridge operators. When she does, she notices them all quickly look back at their stations. She stands and clears her throat, then pushes the ring that houses the station's controls up and out of the way. Glancing up at the captain, she sees Mango smirking back at her.
"I felt that all the way up here!" says the elderly leader, trying to break the sour mood that had been permeating the bridge for some time.
BC smiles as she hears snickers from the others on the bridge, then looks over to Amerone, the sensor operator. "Where did it go?"
The dark skinned woman quickly pulls up some information, and then looks back to BC. "It appears to have slowed and enter the aft bay!"
"Celtic! Get a security team down there on the double!" orders BC, urgency on her voice.
"Roger!" replies Celtic.
"Commander!" calls out Amerone. "Something just left the aft bay!"
"Is it whatever it was that was shot at us?" replies BC as she steps back over and stands behind the sensor operator's station.
"Seems to be the right size," replies Amerone. "It's headed towards…."
Before she can finish, everyone is startled by a gasp from the captain. "Well what do we have here?" says Mango as BC rushes up to her station. In front of the captain, bowing politely is a minute version of the goddess Belldandy.
"Oh, I apologize for startling you!" says the miniature goddess as she comes back to her full standing height of about six inches. "I just wanted to let you know what our sister Skuld has arrived to assist you!"
Mango eyes the mini-goddess with a critical eye. "Is that who is in that unidentified craft that just fired a torpedo at us?"
"That was not a torpedo," replies Belldandy. "That was Banpie."
BC comes up alongside the captain and looks down at the diminutive figure. "What's a 'Banpie'?"
Belldandy smiles up at the two onlookers. "He is a friend. He and Urd are also going to join in as well. Please do look out for them!" That said, the little figure curtsies and disappears in a puff of smoke.
BC and Mango look at each other in confusion, not knowing exactly what to say or do. Another blast from the nebula shakes them out of their reverie. "I guess we should call off Meia," says BC as she steps away. She then turns back to the captain with a smirk on her face. "Looks like you got your intervention."
"Yeah," replies the captain. "I was just not expecting it to be a divine intervention!"
XXX
Meia stares incredulously at the screen as BC relays the message to her regarding the identity of the unknown craft's pilot. Since it had launched what appeared to be a torpedo at the Nirvana, Meia had redoubled her efforts to bring it down, nearly hitting it with her guns a number of times with manual targeting. She had very nearly done it again when BC interrupted. "If I get a chance, I am going to have a word or two with that goddess about showing up to a battle unannounced."
On screen, BC nods and closes the connection. Meia rolls her eyes as she turns her white dread away from the goddess' red and white fighter. As she does so, she notices three cube types bearing down on her. Gritting her teeth, she pushes the control stick forward, putting her dread into a steep dive in an effort to evade them.
As she watches them form up behind her, she curses under her breath. However, all three of them are simultaneously consumed by fireballs as she looks back to keep track of them. Blinking the spots out of her eyes, she sees the red and white craft come up from behind and form up on her left. Meia sees the goddess in the pilot's seat give her thumbs up. The wedge shaped craft then accelerates again, launching another volley of missiles that send another approaching group of cube-types to oblivion. Meia sighs, then moves to follow.
XXX
As she maneuvers through the battle on Banpie, Urd thanks her stars that they appear to be too small for the enemy ships to bother with. Several of the smaller enemies the others call cube types did momentarily take notice, but then decided they had bigger fish to fry, leaving her and Banpie unmolested as they flew.
However, Urd barely took notice. She didn't want to be out here at all, and Skuld's reasons for asking her and not Belldandy were beyond infantile. As she again curses her youngest sister under her breath, she is interrupted by the previously mentioned goddess over a radio like receiver at the base where the seat meets Banpie's chassis. "Urd, this is Skuld!"
"Yeah, I hear ya," replies the silver haired goddess, simultaneously rolling her eyes.
"Listen, I know you're upset with me right now," says the youngest Norn. "But I need you to do something, or none of these people, including Keiichi, are going to survive!"
XXX
Panting from exertion, Keiichi eyeballs a harvester fake of the red claw dread. Dita also reacts, in synch with his every move. The blue vandread shifts as it flies, raising its right arm and fires the cannon attached to it, holing the enemy and causing it to break up and explode. He grits his teeth as he tries to hold down the embarrassment of what comes next, the vanguard's spirit crying out in another fit of pleasure.
While they had made a dent in the enemy numbers, they were not making any head way, either. As they destroy one, another emerges from the nebula to take its place. The bridge operator Celtic had been imploring them to pick up the pace. He was not sure how they were going to do it, though. A sudden burst of static fills the cockpit, threatening to break his concentration.
"Hey, who are you?"
Keichi frowns, confused at the question. "There's nobody else here."
"You are kind of interrupting something….uhg, OK FINE!"
Still frowning, Keiichi looks down at the control panel and sees a communication window pop up. At first all he sees is static, then a burry image begins to appear. He watches as it clears up to reveal a woman wearing a red and white pilot's helmet with a pointed visor on the top. Looking closer, she appears to be vaguely familiar. Recognition dawns on him as he sees the markings on her cheeks. "Skuld?!"
"Yep, its me!" replies the youngest Norn, giving him a big smile and two fingers in a V.
"But your…you look like…" stammers Keiichi, not quite believing what he was seeing.
"Yeah, yeah, four hundred years will do that to someone!" she says happily. Keiichi had almost forgotten what the adult Skuld looked like. He had gotten a preview many years before when the trio of goddesses were cut off from yggdrasil. The result had been Skuld progressing in age to a beautiful woman of about the same age as Belldandy. In fact, if it weren't for the different facial markings and almost black hair, he might have mistaken her for his beloved goddess.
"Who are you?" asks Dita, who is confused about what's going on.
"My name is Skuld, I am Urd and Belldandy's younger sister," replies Skuld. She then leans in and scowls back at Keiichi's copilot. "And you better not be doing anything perverted with him or you'll be sorry!"
Dita squeaks and jerks her hands away for a second, blushing furiously. Keiichi growls and grabs her hands back and places them back on the control pad. "It's not like that and you know it!" he snaps back at the screen.
Skuld waves her hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I need you two to get down to the nebula and help Urd. She is going to try to force whatever it is that's attacking your ship out, and your heavy firepower is what's needed to finish it off."
"Whats she going to do?" asks Keiichi.
"Not sure, but you know her. Its either going to be spectacular, or fail spectacularly," replies the youngest Norn.
"All right, just tell us where she's at," he says. "We'll do our best."
"Sending the coordinates now," replies the raven haired goddess. "Oh, and by the way…It's good to see you again." When she finishes, she closes the connection.
Keiichi shakes his head. It was all still a little disconcerting, all this time travel. To him, he had just seen Skuld the other day when she had once again gone after him for getting a little too close to Belldandy. She was still barely a teenager in appearance then. Now she was a grown woman, and clearly in the middle of this fight. As he looked down to confirm where they needed to go to meet up with Urd, he is startled as a red and white wedge shaped fighter screams past the blue vandread. It releases a volley of missiles that takes out a number of enemy units that were converging on them. He and Dita take that as their opening, and disengage from the dogfight to go find Urd.
XXX
As she paces the red and white craft in her white dread, Meia is impressed. It seems to have an unlimited supply of missiles as it fires volley after volley into the harvester ships. Each one easily finds its mark, leading her to believe that the tracking systems on them were much more advanced than anything the Nirvana could load on the dreads. It makes sense, considering where it probably came from.
As they fly past Vandread Dita, she can't help but think it was not making any difference, though. The seemingly endless stream of new enemy units from the nebula easily keeps pace with the rate they are being destroyed. Indeed, they were seemingly locked in a war of attrition, pitting the firepower of the Nirvana's dread squadrons against the numbers of the harvest fleet. As of right now, they are losing. She had received word of three more dreads being disabled and having to retire from the fight.
Her thoughts are interrupted as four cube types flash past her and take up positions behind the goddess' craft, which starts to accelerate. Meia grits her teeth and maneuvers behind the four, looking for an opportunity to take some of them out. Then, ahead of her, barely in sight, she sees goddess' engines move while the craft continues on it path, rotating underneath. Suddenly and without any warning, the wedge shape craft comes to an almost dead stop, then accelerates backwards. Cursing under her breath, Meia pulls her flight stick back hard, causing her dread to climb in order to avoid a collision.
As she looks behind, she sees that the pursuers had been caught completely unaware as well, and had been sent to oblivion. The only evidence of their previous existence were the fading fireballs where they had once been. As Meia brings her dread around, she can see that the goddess' wedge shaped craft was somehow reconfigured. The engines were now attached at the bottom of what could only be described as two legs, and the exhaust nozzles have expanded and look more like feet now. In addition, much to the dread leader's surprise, two arms had appeared on either side of the cockpit, one of which is holding what appeared to be a rather large gun.
The hybrid vehicle then accelerates and dives into the middle of another group of six cubes types and attacks. Meia brings her dread around to assist in the engagement, but realizes it is futile. She won't make it in time. Not because the cube types had the upper hand with their overwhelming force, but because they were completely outclassed. The goddess' craft seemed to be performing some sort of aerial ballet, spinning, bouncing, and moving to and fro. The deadly dance was over almost before it started, leaving the six harvest craft in wreckage.
Suddenly, one of the harvester's fake vandreads that resemble the blue Vandread Dita appears. For a moment, Meia is worried as the craft takes a swipe at the goddess's craft, but it deftly rolls out of the way. Then the dread leader looks on in surprise as the wings of the vehicle fold back behind it, and the fuselage splits in two, revealing a head. The cockpit is rotated down to be the chest, and a cover slides over the canopy. Now, the craft has a completely humanoid shape, resembling a vanguard more than anything, leaving her to think that the previous configuration was a just an intermediate mode.
The blue haired pilot looks on in wonder as the new vanguard easily blocks several blows from the fake, then jams its gun the enemy's chest and fires. Holed through, the blue fake stops moving. It is ushered off by a swift kick that sends it spinning away, followed by a quick burst from the red and white vanguard's gun. As soon as that is completed, the vanguard quickly turns and engages another of the fake vandreads, with similar results. As Meia watches the carnage, for the first time she starts to feel optimistic about the outcome.
XXX
Urd's flight continued unmolested, and she was now skimming along the edge of the nebula. As she does so, she expands her senses, trying to sniff out the enemy ship. So far she was not having any luck.
"Where the hell are you," she mutters to herself as she comes up empty again. As if to answer her, an energy beam lances out from within. She looks up and sees the bean strike the Nirvana's shield, causing it to illuminate bright blue. She can see that holes have formed on parts of the shield not directly impacted. The glow fades as the energies from the hit dissipate. Not much time left.
Now that she saw where the beam came from the nebula, she at least has an idea of where to start. She moves to hover over where it came from and once again tries to see if she can detect the presence of whatever is attacking them. As she reaches out, she can sense something, but it's too undefined to pinpoint. Her concentration is broken as another attack strikes out at the Nirvana. The shield again flares blue as it struggles to contain the burst, this time failing. The beam strikes home on the starboard arm from the bottom, blasting through the top, and causing the ship to lurch to port from the impact.
Got to go, now or never. Urd stands up on Banpie's seat, then raises her arms above her head and begins an incantation. "Nebula before me, I call upon the spirits that reside within! Hear my voice! Know the will of Urd! Gather unto yourselves the power of motion and friction! Entrust thy energies TO ME!"
Bluish orbs appear and orbit around her as Urd begins to twirl her arms in a circular motion. At the same time, a large number of whirlpools composed of the gasses and dust of the nebula begin to form. As they spin faster, lightning bolts begin to streak up from their centers and impact her. The energies dance over Banpie's protective shield and are channeled into the orbs, causing them to glow brightly, then split in two. The more lightning that comes to her, the more they split until there are over twenty.
Without warning, a beam strikes out from the nebula, this time aimed at her. However, its energies are only absorbed by the powerful spell, added to what she has already gathered. She smirks down at where the beam came from. Finally got your attention, didn't I!
As the number of orbs nears fifty, she stops the twirling motion and straightens out her arms above her. One of the orbs flies into her hands, it is about the size of a large beach ball. She finishes the spell:
"I summon: IONIC STORM DEPTH CHARGE!"
With her right hand, she hurls the orb down into the nebula. When she does this, another orb takes its place and she throws it with her left. She repeats this over and over. As she does, bright flashes emanate from within the nebula, and an up swell of the gasses and dust that make it up follows. Once again, the beam lances out at her, and once again it is absorbed. An evil grin crosses her face.
Gotcha!
XXX
Vandread Dita's transit of the battlefield was anything but easy. Cube types and fake vandreads molested them the entire way. With each enemy they vanquished, the frenzied cries of the vanguard spirit continued to grate on Keiichi's nerves. To him, it seemed like the pitch and fervor were beginning to increase, almost as if some sort of climax were approaching.
Another cube type rushes them, trying to latch on to the larger mecha. Dita and Keiichi maneuver and capture the enemy with the left hand, spin around it, and grab it with the right. They dig in with the vandread's fingers, seeking purchase. When they have it, they pull the small mech apart, then throw the two pieces into the path of additional onrushing cube types, destroying them in the process.
"Oh my god, YES! You do that so good!"
As Keiichi tries the purge the latest round of wailing from his mind, he is interrupted by a gasp from Dita. Being where he is right now in his mind, he instantly worries that the vanguard's assault on his senses were somehow affecting her. His fears are allayed when she points out ahead of them. "Look!"
In the blue and red mass of the nebula, they start to see swirling patterns emerge. Lightning begins to emanate from the whirlpools as they spin faster, coalescing in a single spot above.
"That must be where Urd is," says Keiichi. He and Dita then start to move closer as a yellow beam lances out and strikes the point where the energies are coming together. Expecting some sort of explosion, they are both surprised when none occurs. As they near, they can make out a figure, surrounded by a globe of blue energy, standing on top of a small white and red craft. Keiichi immediately recognizes Urd as her white hair flows around her, as if blown by some invisible wind. It is then that they notice the orbs swirling and multiplying around her.
Suddenly, she starts to throw the orbs into the nebula, causing bright flashes and geysers of gas and dust to erupt. It reminds Keiichi of old World War II footage of British and American destroyers dropping depth charges into the ocean in an effort to destroy German U-boats.
Another beam strikes out in an attempt to stop her, but it dissipates against the energy barrier, seeming to cause the globes to multiply again. They watch as Urd adjusts her aim, sending multiple orbs down the same path that the beam came from. Multiple flashes are accompanies by an even brighter one.
"Did she get it?" inquires Dita as they turn to face where it came from. Her answer comes up negative as they watch the nebula seemingly heave upward. The gasses and dust seem to part, revealing a massive red and brown vessel. The main part of the ship appears to be a supersized version of the clamshell shaped carrier ships of the harvest fleet. Even now, it is belching forth mecha, which are starting to make their way to Urd's position.
Of top of the ship are three globes, each flashing from what can only be described as reddish lightning contained inside. Attached to each of the globes is an arm, the three of which meet together underneath a platform. On top of the platform is a huge dish, which is pointed at the Nirvana, and another globe with a large cannon barrel attached, pointed at Urd.
Both pilots stare, mouth agape at the monstrous ship. Dita finally breaks the silence. "I've never seen anything like it!" As they watch, they can see Urd start to alter the path of the projectiles she is sending to it. They begin to burst into the swarm of cube types that are approaching her.
The magnitude of the vessel was beyond Keiichi's comprehension. He snaps out of his reverie as a burst of static interrupts. Skuld's image appears on the communication screen again. "Keiichi, NOW!" Shaking his head to clear is fears, he and Dita each have one thought.
"Oh god, here it comes!"
From the Vandread's back, two glowing, pointed spears swivel up and over its head and lock into the shoulder, pointed at the monstrosity before them.
"Oh yes yes yes yes!"
With a single thought from two minds, the spear begins to glow as it powers up. Starting from the shoulder, hexagonal patches begin to glow white, lighting up from the base to the tip. Suddenly, the huge turret on the harvest ship swivels towards them and fires. Instinctively, Keiichi dodges, and the beam barely misses the vandread. They quickly reorient it towards the ship as the glow reaches the end of the spears.
"Oh yeah, here is comes! oymygodOhMyGodOhMyGODOHMYGO…!"
In a bright flash, twin beams lance out towards the ship. As it happens, a warm, tingling sensations runs up Keiichi's spine.
"Guh….."
The beam slams down on top of the platform between the dish and the cannon, holing it through. A second later, the platform itself is engulfed in a huge explosion.
XXX
BC grits her teeth in pain as she holds a bandage over a burned section of her right arm. Her console had exploded while she was sitting in her chair when the shields had failed and allowed the beam to strike their ship. Still, they were lucky, most of the beam's energy had been absorbed and the damage was minimal. When the follow up shot that would have surely destroyed them failed to come, they all watched in amazed silence at the display of power that one of the goddesses was putting on below.
When their assailant was finally forced to emerge from the nebula, Bart had maneuvered the Nirvana to face it head on. They watch as, to their delight, Vandread Dita destroys the weapons platform on the oversized carrier. Their cheering is interrupted by Bart.
"Hey! I have targeting scanners back up!" he cries out excitedly.
Mango stands at her station. "What are you waiting for, FIRE!"
XXX
Across the Nirvana, the edges expand to reveal hundreds of white crystal globes lining the ship. They all glow bright blue, then release a beam of energy. All of the beams lance out in different directions, then begin to curve towards their target, as if each one were individually controlled.
Their target being the enemy ship, Vandread Dita finds itself directly in the line of fire. A sense of panic wells up in Keiichi, but he is immediately calmed by an 'it will be alright' vibe he feels from Dita. As they near, the beams literally change direction and go around them, then continue on to their target. The vandread turns to see them impact, causing explosion after explosion. Suddenly, it swells on one side, then bursts in a huge fireball. A similar burst destroys a section on the opposite side, and the ship starts to break up and sink back into the nebula.
All around the battlefield, the harvester ships cease to function.
XXX
It took about an hour to mop up the remaining enemies. Not that the non-functional mechs were any threat, there were just so many. As the Nirvana's squadrons returned to their ships, Urd stayed behind. Skimming along the edge of the nebula, she had one thing on her mind, and it did not involve playing nice.
She stretches out her feelings and keys in on her target. Mentally, she calls out to her sister, who responds in kind. A few moments later, Skuld's wedge shaped fighter appears overhead and makes its way to her. It comes alongside and stops. A new energy barrier forms around them as Urd maneuvers Banpie to get as close to the cockpit as possible. After a moment, it opens. Skuld stands and takes off her helmet, her raven colored hair falling down to her shoulders.
A lot has indeed changed in four hundred years. As they were expecting due to the preview from before, she has grown into a beautiful goddess, rivaling Belldandy in many respects. She is now taller as well, almost as tall as the oldest of the Norns. She stands and gets out of the cockpit as the silver haired goddess approaches. Urd hovers over the craft and jumps down onto the wing, then walks over to where Skuld is standing and gives her a quick hug.
"You look good, Sis!" comments Skuld with a smile as they walk over and sit down on the end of the wing.
"So do you," replies Urd. "I heard you passed the first class exam, congratulations."
Skuld beams at Urd, flashing a big toothy grin. "Yep!"
An uncomfortable silence then settles over the sisters. After a few moments, Urd is the one to break it. "So, how is that ol' battleax Lind?"
"She's great," replies Skuld. "Her sense of humor has developed quite a bit these last couple centuries. But she's still all business when the time comes."
"That's cool."
Another silence. Skuld starts fidgeting a little as it lingers. "And how's Keiichi?" she asks finally.
"Well, it was touch and go there for a bit, but we got it straightened out," replies the older goddess. "It's nice knowing exactly how Mara did it."
Skuld smiles at the news. "That's awesome. He did quite well today too."
"Yeah"
Again, silence. This is frustrating Urd to no end. Finally, she slams her fist down. "Dammit Skuld, why don't you come out and ask it."
"Ask what?"
The silver haired goddess narrows her eyes at her youngest sister. "Ask 'how's Belldandy?'"
Skuld glares back as at her sister. "Why on earth would I want to do that?" Urd had obviously touched a nerve.
The older goddess angrily jumps up and floats around in front of the younger one. "By the Almighty, you are such a brat, and you have always been!"
"I am not!" yells Skuld in reply.
Urd floats closer; "You are too!" she yells, poking her right finger into her sisters chest. "I don't care that you are now a first class goddess with a special duty license, so help me if you don't go see your sister I'll….."
Skuld stands and smacks Urd's hand away. "And why the hell should I?!" she replies incredulously. She folds her arms across her chest and turns away. "She got her happily ever after, I didn't. I had to watch Sentaro die and was then expected to just move on." She looks back over her shoulder at Urd, who could see the sadness and anger in her eyes. "She didn't."
"God, for a grown up, you still act like such a child!" Urd floats closer to Skuld, who again looks away. "You don't see it, do you. You were SO jealous of Keiichi back then because you were afraid of losing her. Now you have lost her because you are jealous of her!"
Skuld hunches her shoulders, but does not reply.
Urd raps Skuld on the back of the head with her palm. "Sometimes I just don't know what's rattling around in that brain of yours. I sure wish that Lind, Peorth, or even Noble Scarlet would pound some sense into that thick skull of yours. You have lost the brightest spot of your miserable life, you just can't see it because of some petty emotion." She grabs hold of Skuld's shoulder and spins her around to face her. "It wasn't Belldandy's fault what happened."
"But…."
Urd cuts her off before she can say anymore. "No, you listen to me. Sentaro was a special man, and we all loved him dearly. This universe has been a lesser place because of his absence. Direct your anger towards fate, heaven, or somewhere more constructive. But don't lay this down at your sister's feet!"
Urd's violet eyes bore into Skuld's. "Are you finished?" asks the youngest norn finally as a single tear streams down her face.
"No, but all I have to say is this: Don't contact me again until after you forgive Belldandy or tell me you are ready to reconcile with her." Urd reaches up and wipes the tear from Skuld's face. "The ball is in your court, my dear sister. I love you, but you need to take the blinders off and see what these emotions you have now are robbing you of. Unless that happens, I'm done with you."
The bronze goddess turns away from her sister and floats back over to Banpie and gets on. Skuld moves to follow. "But Urd….."
"Don't talk to me," snaps Urd as she grabs the handlebars. She then speeds off, leaving Skuld behind. As she leaves, she wipes the tears she had been holding back from her eyes.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this. I had a hard time writting it as I wanted everything to be "just so". And I still got bashed over the head by my beta reader for being repetative on certain words. She was right, though. :)
In case anyone is wondering, Skuld's mecha is based on the VF-17 Nightmare from Macross 7. A little homage to her love of Manga. I call it a vanguard in here because, well, Meia really would not know what else to call it. And if you want to discuss Skuld's attitude towards Bell in this chapter, feel free to drop me a line. R&R please!